By Jeremy Harness

Not too long ago, the Giants sat atop the National League West standings.

Boy, have things changed in a hurry.

As of Thursday night, they have lost eight of their past nine games, as they have seen themselves further away from the first-place Los Angeles Dodgers. The capper of this major slump was their dropping two of their three-game series with the New York Mets at AT&T Park.

The Giants have had their struggles at home all season long, and the recent series with the Mets was a microcosm of that. If they do not get it together in their friendly confines, it will be just about impossible for them to defend their World Series title.

The Giants are now hovering around with a .500 record and are now tied for the second spot with the surging Arizona Diamondbacks, who have won 7 of their past 10 games while the Giants have fizzled.

Surprisingly, they are only 5 ½ games out of the top spot at this point. What’s saving them is the fact that, even though the Dodgers have won six of their past 10 games, they have not exactly been lighting it up themselves. They are coming off a series that saw them win three of four over the hapless Philadelphia Phillies, but they themselves had dropped two of three from the Mets in their own home series prior to that.

The Dodgers have a three-gamer against the Brewers before heading to Washington for a three-game set against the powerful Nationals.

Meanwhile, the Giants have a chance to get back on track at home against the Phillies in a three-game series that starts Friday night before heading down to Arizona to face the Diamondbacks and get a chance to distance themselves from them as well as hopefully draw closer to the Dodgers.